Trouble logging in?If you can't remember your password or are having trouble logging in, you will have to reset your password. If you have trouble resetting your password (for example, if you lost access to the original email address), please do not start posting with a new account, as this is against the forum rules. If you create a temporary account, please contact us right away via Forum Support, and send us any information you can about your original account, such as the account name and any email address that may have been associated with it.

I guess I read too many comics, caused I called that twist right from the third episode.

Spoiler for episode 19:

I knew Hero TV was going to end up being the main villain of the show, I was surprised by Mr. Maverick being a NEXT though.

Spoiler for episode 19:

I think it's funny that everyone suspected Agnes/the current Hero TV of setting up crimes while it looks like it was the original Hero TV that did it instead (also funny since, even though it looks like it's gotten more commercialized over the years, it's technically more honest now then when it started).

Why didn't Bunny just break the window and run away, or at least fight back...

I don't think he could. I'm pretty sure Maverick drugged his tea. The pen Maverick had in his pocket was gone after he poured the tea, and there's a shot of the pen on the table next to the teapot, and it was leaking a liquid. So even if Barnaby wanted to fight back the drug was probably starting to take effect so he couldn't do anything. Plus Barnaby was pretty confused/freaked out by the situation and probably froze too.

I smell a second season. Superhero stories - the good ones - go on forever anyway. This is a series that could return without selling its soul, BD/DVD sales are excellent, and it's already starting to branch into other media.

The truth at last.
Maverick being evil and a NEXT with memory manipulating powers, or even the staged crimes, aren't surprising, but it hits all the same. Poor Bunny.
I just hope it won't be too long before he finds out the truth again.
Kotetsu continues to annoy me. The scene was just awful to watch. There is a limit to how secretive you can be. I was just screaming "HOLY FUCK MAN WHAT ARE YOU DOING? TELL HIM!" at my screen.

Now Samantha and Kotetsu are in danger. Don't drink that tea, man! Don't do it!

I thought the original spoilers were fake. Who would spoil a series like that in a magazine?

Actually, a lot of anime have summaries for the next few episodes that appear in various magazines/tv guides (I remember seeing some for every episode of Star Driver) so normally they're fairly accurate, just as a heads up for next time.

Episode 19 was a fantastic episode. Which makes this a somewhat pleasant surprise, for a superhero anime, in that this episode had no "hero action" in it whatsoever.

In this vein, Tiger and Bunny continues to combine much of the best elements of anime with much of the best elements of the superhero genre of the west.

One thing I've long felt about superhero comics (and superhero stories in general) is that they often struggle to be interesting during moments where there isn't much combative superhero action going on. It's not boring, per se, but as a voracious reader of comic books back in the 80s and 90s, such "daily living" scenes often just left me wanting to get to the 'true' conflicts of the comic book even more.

This, in turn, is much of the reason why I developed a considerable appreciation for "Slice of Life" anime, which not only often managed to make "daily living" scenes interesting, but even managed to do so without any serious conflicts therein that would rise above what you could regularly find in a normal person's average everyday life.

And here we arrive at Tiger and Bunny, an anime with gripping combative action on par with that of superhero comics like Marvel and DC, but also with the strengths of (good) "slice of life" anime in that it's "daily living" scenes never feel like padding at all, but rather as very important scenes in and of themselves.

Of course, this episode wasn't "slice of life", but rather "drama", but it's still impressive that an episode where almost all the scenes are just two people conversing somewhat normally with each other can be so incredibly intriguing and suspenseful.

I think my favorite moment in the episode is when Kotetsu is watching that TV interview with Barnaby, in which Barnaby hints at his admiration for his partner, and his desire for this "secret hero" to trust him. This is a dynamic between the two characters that I've come to greatly appreciate.

Kotetsu's chief flaw is his inability to truly trust others, as even the people closest to him (his mother, his daughter, his partner Barnaby) are kept in the dark beyond what is absolutely necessary (in the heat of the moment) for Kotetsu to reveal.

And yet, that is precisely what Barnaby feels like he must earn in order to achieve actualization as a true hero: The trust of his veteran partner, Kotetsu.

So here we see a great basis for character development arising out of relationship development. It may well be that Kotetsu must conquer his chief flaw in order for Barnaby to achieve final victory.

While the Maverick reveal is somewhat predictable given the look of his more youthful character shown a couple episodes ago, it is still quite a plot twist when placed in the context of the anime as a whole. Put another way, who would have saw this coming after the epic Bunny vs. Jake Martinez showdown of Episode 13? Perhaps some viewers did, but I'm inclined to think that most viewers weren't expecting it at that point.

Having the "Evil Overlord" be the man who raised a titular character to be the hero he is today is a twist on par with "Luke, I am your father!". Presuming that he re-learns the truth, how will Barnaby cope with it? These are the fires in which the greatest of steels are forged...

I think that the point of shows like Madoka Magica and Tiger and Bunny have perhaps been misunderstood. Neither is simply a deconstruction, really, of either magical girls or of superheroes. But they're all about realizing that perhaps the best way to make a truly inspirational hero is by putting her or him through genuinely horrible ordeals (not only physical, but also psychological), so when her or he eventually overcomes them, s/he seems all the more impressive for it.